Paraguay

Brazil's influential daily O'Globo called for a drastic change in the country's approach to trade policy arguing that without a review, Mercosur does not work and reveals that the latest signals from Argentina are that it is reluctant to reach a free trade and cooperation agreement in the framework of Mercosur with the European Union.

The new Paraguayan government of President Horacio Cartes is rapidly formalizing relations with its Mercosur partners. On Tuesday the ambassador that will represent the country in Venezuela, Enrique Jara took the oath of office, which in fact means full normalization of relations with the country ruled by Nicolas Maduro.The ceremony at Government House in Asunción was headed by President Cartes and cabinet members.

The World Organization for Animal Health, OIE restored Paraguay with the status of free of foot and mouth disease, FMD, with vaccination, a condition it had lost back in September 2011. The news was confirmed in Asunción by Paraguay's Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Jorge Gattini

Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes will not be participating in the Mercosur summit scheduled to be held next month in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, which currently holds the rotating chair of the bloc, according to Paraguay foreign minister Eladio Loizaga.

Former Paraguayan president Nicanor Duarte Frutos is scheduled to arrive this week in Buenos Aires where he will be taking the post of ambassador in Argentina one of the most politically important for the land-locked country.

Foreign minister Eladio Loizaga revealed that the Paraguayan congress must first approve Venezuela's protocol of incorporation to Mercosur before the country can attend the coming bloc's summit scheduled for next 17 December in Caracas.

Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes and his peer from Brazil Dilma Rousseff inaugurated on Tuesday a 500KW power plant and line from the Itaipú hydroelectric dam to the city of Asunción which should help end endemic blackouts and supply a new industrial park.

Paraguay has named veteran diplomat Enrique Jara as new ambassador in Venezuela, giving a further step towards the full normalization of relations that had been interrupted since July 2012 when the two countries expelled their respective accredited staff.

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff will inaugurate on Tuesday in Paraguay next to his peer Horacio Cartes a high voltage transmission line from the world's largest operational hydroelectric dam Itaipú to metropolitan Asuncion, capital of the landlocked country and which was financed with Mercosur funds.

The Paraguayan foreign affairs ministry will represent Mercosur next December when the exchange of proposals with the European Union for a long pending free trade agreement, announced Uruguayan president Jose Mujica on Friday following private talks with his visiting peer from Paraguay, Horacio Cartes.